According to Wikipedia:
The term “the Dozens” is believed to refer to the devaluing on the auction block of slaves who were past their prime, who were deformed, aged or who, after years of back-breaking toil, no longer were capable of hard labor. These enslaved human beings often were sold by the dozen.
…
An alternate history of the name is that the word “dozen” has nothing to do with the number twelve; that it is a modern survival of an Engish verb–”to dozen”–dating back at least to the fourteenth century and meaning “to stun, stupefy, daze” or “to make insensible, torpid, powerless.” The object of the game is to stupefy and daze with swift and skillful speech.
Just like Hip Hop, Yo Mama jokes have creeped into pop culture over the past 20 years in both movies and TV shows. Even though they are more readily identified with the African American experience, anyone who has MTV nowadays can see that they are certainly not limited to just African Americans anymore!
Check out some of the first televised Yo Mama battles on Uptown Comedy Club featuring soon-to-be stars like Tracy Morgan and Carlos Mencia:
YouTube – Tracy Morgan Vs Carlos Mencia Yo Mama Battle
YouTube – Yo Mama Battle with Faizon Love and Hamburger Jones(Uptown Comedy Club)
Popularity: unranked [?]
“The term “the Dozens” is believed to refer to the devaluing on the auction block of slaves [ENSLAVED BLACK WOMEN] …”
And you think this is funny?? THIS in the society that doesn’t set aside as much as a LUNCH HOUR to remember the Millions of people whom it exploited -absolutely- let alone pay REPARATIONS to the Black American People – we whose family members were enslaved in what is NOW the USA. Black Americans have been here far longer.
No one should encourage continued disrespect; and NO, this history is NOT part of your “popular culture” – unless you’re a descendant of slaveowner/rapists, or of the enslaved, or both.
Marian, Marian’s Blog
marian.typepad.com
Comment by Marian'sBlog — February 8, 2009 @ 9:22 pm
Not just enslaved black women, enslaved black men. And the jokes were made by the slaves against each other.
I do think this is funny because I grew up saying these outside my school in the morning waiting for the door to open. It is funny for the same reasons that In Living Color or Dave Chappelle are funny. It’s funny because there’s a truth behind it. Are you against all forms of slave/oppressed-community-created entertainment? Capoeira? Rock n Roll? Hip Hop?
This page isn’t here to chronicle past abuses or examine the issue of reparations, it’s here because I and others think Yo Mama jokes are funny.
And it is a part of the popular culture. Pop culture isn’t defined by historians, it’s defined by mainstream media particularly those catering to the young people. Yo Mama jokes are right there next to NWA, the Macarena, David Beckham and now Twitter.
Comment by webadmin — March 28, 2009 @ 10:51 pm
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